STUDENTS have sat British citizenship tests to open their eyes to other cultures.

Pupils at St Margaret’s CE high school in Aigburth put themselves into the shoes of immigrants and sat the British Citizen Test which people seeking to become British citizens must take.

First year students aged 11 and 12 took sample questions from the 45 minute test which quizzed them on everything from ‘Where does Santa come from?’ to ‘What would you do if you spilled a drink on someone?”.

The test was taken as part of a special “global dimension” project delivered by trainee teachers from Liverpool John Moores and Hope universities as part of a 12-week placement at the school.

New teachers are expected to learn about other curricular areas and how they can complement their specialist subject.

But the project was also used to help pupils learn and appreciate other cultures.

After doing the test, many pupils were left scratching their heads – with few able to answer all the questions.

This was used as the basis for debate and students were also tasked with coming up with questions they felt should be asked of those seeking British citizenship .

These included the question “What is the Queen’s second name?” from 12-year-old George Griffiths.

Sinead Coll, a trainee English teacher at Hope, said: “Out of the two groups very few were able to get all the questions right.

“We then debated if you cannot answer all the questions how well does this reflect Britishness. We also asked what it means to be British and the contribution people make to society.”

She added: “People included Fabio Capello, he may not be from this country but the pupils discussed how he still makes a contribution to the country, managing the England football team.”

But the multi-cultural focus was extended across the curriculum.

In maths students were charged with making a selection of international landmarks such as the Taj Mahal to the Eiffel Tower.

Using plastic bricks students had different roles varying from memorising the design to actually constructing it, again used as a medium to look at different cultures.

In PE, students did a relay race, picking up photographs of Liverpool and Everton players and matching them with cards showing their nationality.

And in languages, students used Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-style handheld devices to choose which country they believed a selection of TV adverts originated from.

Head of languages, Brenda Barnes, said: “This is a great way to encourage our pupils to accept other cultures and look at viewpoints of cultures which may be different from their own.”